Megyn Kelly, the popular Fox News anchor, is known for her intelligent, sharp commentary as well as an on-air persona that often comes across as personable yet professional. At times spunky and unpredictable in her presentation of the news, Kelly can produce exciting, sometimes bizarre television that has in the past made headlines.
Born in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1970, Kelly graduated from Syracuse University, where she pursued a degree in Political Science, before earning a law degree from Albany Law School.
She is married to her second husband, Douglas Brunt, President and CEO of Authentium.
A mother of two, the 42-year-old Kelly is expecting her third baby later this summer.
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Kelly joined the Fox News Channel in 2004 and is presently anchoring the daytime news program "America Live," which airs daily from 1 to 3 p.m. ET.
Kelly will move to a primetime slot this fall, after she returns from maternity leave.
Though Fox News has yet to confirm which time slot Kelly will fill,
the persistent rumor is that she will replace longtime Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, whose one-hour news show "On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren," has aired at 10 p.m. since 2002.
According to celebritynetworth.com, Kelly earns an annual salary of $250,000 and has a net worth of $5 million.
Here are some other key things to know about Megyn Kelly:
Kelly the Corporate Litigator
Prior to becoming a news anchor, Megyn Kelly practiced law as a corporate litigator.
Kelly first worked as an associate in the Chicago office of Bickel & Brewer LLP before spending nine years working for the international law firm Jones Day, where she served as an attorney for credit bureau Experian.
Kelly began at Fox News as a contributor during legal segments on the shows, "Special Report with Brit Hume" and "The O'Reilly Factor," before eventually receiving her own show. She still holds "Kelly's Court," a legal segment on her "America Live" daily program.
In a GQ interview, Kelly admitted to have originally entered law with the aspiration of being "a DA, a prosecuting attorney. But, in Manhattan, that would've put me at the federal poverty level, so
I took a job with a big old law firm that allowed me to pay the bills."
Kelly Didn't Start at Fox News
Though she has been known for her work on Fox News, having joined the network in 2004, Kelly started in broadcast journalism as a general assignment reporter on the ABC News affiliate WJLA-TV Washington, D.C.
In addition to covering the run-up to the 2004 Presidential election with WJLA-TV, Kelly also reported on the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Chief Justice John G. Roberts.
Kelly's Racy Photo Spread
Under the headline "She Reports, We Decided She's Hot," GQ published an interview with Megyn Kelly in December 2010, in which the blond-haired, long-legged Fox News anchor posed for a series of racy, suggestive photographs.
In the interview, Kelly is seen posing in a revealing black dress that appears more like a nightgown.
In the Q&A session, Kelly dispels the rumor that she had once been featured on an exercise infomercial, clarifying the record by admitting that as a younger woman she had made an appearance on an abs exercising video.
"
I used to teach aerobics. I was paid one whole dollar to be Backup Girl #1," Kelly told GQ.
Kelly Often Takes Pro Same-Sex Marriage Stance
On a network that is often perceived as a conservative news source that promotes traditional values, Megyn Kelly has often voiced a contrarian opinion when it comes to gay rights and in particular, same-sex marriage.
The most recent example of Kelly arguing against same-sex marriage opponents came in May on her show "American Live," when she chastised Fox contributor Erick Erickson for citing a Regnerus study that was critical of homosexual parents.
"Now, there is data, in the scientific community, to suggest that children of homosexual couples who are happily married and good parents fare no worse than children of heterosexual couples," Kelly told Erickson.
In prior interviews, Kelly had often mentioned her gay friends when discussing the issue of same-sex marriage and compared same-sex marriage proponents to civil rights leaders of the mid twentieth century as well as those involved in the women's rights movement.
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Kelly's False Rumor of an Affair with Brit Hume
Prior to her hiring at Fox News in 2004, Megyn Kelly sent a tape of her reporting to Kim Hume, wife of veteran journalist and Fox News anchor Brit Hume, for review.
The 70-year-old Brit Hume then reportedly played a key role in her hiring, which led to rumors that the two were intimately involved.
Kelly at the time was also married.
In an interview with GQ, Kelly further dispelled the rumors.
"
I think Brit knew how preposterous it was to anyone with two nickels in between their ears," Kelly told GQ. "The first thing he said at his retirement dinner—this big affair down in D.C. with Vice President Cheney, Fred Thompson, Brian Williams—was 'I haven't been this honored since that rumor about me having an affair with Megyn Kelly went around.'"
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